how do you commute in winter boots??

[skohng]

hi all,

I'm going back to FT work next week and need a good commuting boot. i'm looking at the serious, clunky, shearling coming out of your ears boots for chicago winters.

but my ? is, how on earth do you commute to work in suit/dress pants? do you stick them into your boots and risk wrinkling? or roll them up a few times?

(or just splurge on boots like la canadienne and wear them all day? )

[MontrealMum]

I have two pairs of La Canadienne boots (they are made here in Mtl.)- as well as quite a few other pairs, but those are my "professional" boots. It's too cold here to skimp on boots in winter - and our winter lasts from the end of Oct. to the beginning of May. They will sometimes get too hot for wearing all day though as they are lined.

On super cold days (read, most of Jan. and Feb.) La Canadienne are, in fact, not warm enough, and I wear an extremely fugly pair of Sorels, with pants tucked in. Pants that are of a heavier weight don't wrinkle as easily. I never wear skirts or dresses in the winter unless I'm lucky enough to be getting dropped off at the door. Again, too cold.

When I wear the Sorels, I either bring shoes with me to wear inside, or I also have a pair stashed in my department. Our metro breaks down periodically, and there have also been other instances of people having to walk it (either to the bus, or ALL the way home) in the bad winters here (Ice Storm for one) - so there's no way I'm going to chance it like some do w/o an appropriate winter coat or boots. It is not unusual at all though to see very serious winter boots (as in, ugly) in our downtown core. You've got to dress appropriately for your climate.

I also wanted to add that many men (like my DH and FIL) wear overshoes over their dress shoes when they have to be constantly in and out of clients' offices and taking boots off is a pain. I don't think I've seen women wearing them, but LLB sells the mens' type, they're made by NEOS I think. You still have the warmth problem and risk ruining the bottom of your pants (snow, mud, salt, sand) if you go this route, though, so I think real boots are really the way to go. I'd much rather have wrinkles in my $100+ dress pants than stains on the cuffs.

[wrenb]

I usually just put the pant leg over the boots unless I'm going through snow. I bought some decent boots from Lands End a couple of winters ago and then carry my work shoes. That worked for several Wisconsin winters while walking to work.

[bubbaray]

It depends entirely where you live and what the conditions are like. Where Molly lives, the city uses nasty salt and it just ruins leather boots. That is another reason why on the harshest days (when there is fresh salt), you often see people not wearing their nice leather boots in favor of something fugly and impervious to salt (like Sorels). The salt also leaves lovely stains on pant legs.

I sooooo don't miss Mtl winters. Ugh.

[skohng]

lol.... I've been eyeing those very same fugly Sorel boots! Chicago here, so it gets bad here too. How is the traction on Sorels? or Sportos?

[MontrealMum]

I had many pairs of Sportos in HS (I grew up in MI, so somewhat snowy and cold, but not like here) - hadn't thought about them since then. Anyways, I don't remember what the traction was like, but take my word for it that they do not compare to Sorels - any of the models. The LLB "duck" boots also do not compare, though they are probably great for a wet climate. There are more and more "fashion" Sorels lately since the company got bought out...I have these which are the "originals" though: http://www.sorel.com/Product.aspx?top=2&cat=220&prod=24 (tho not quite that color) I think they might actually be overkill for Chicago; I'm familiar with the weather there as I grew up about 4 hours north and experienced lots of lake effect weather as a kid. You could probably get away with some that are rated to a higher temp and slightly less fugly, I'm doubting you'll see -40 down there, even though Chicago has some pretty fierce winters. Their grip is amazing. DH used his (he has both the Caribou and the Bear, I think) in the bush for years when he was still prospecting (he used to be a geologist).

I also have a pair of Hush Puppies that are in between the Sorels and La Canadiennes in terms of warmth and style. You might check those out...do they have the Little Red Shoehouse factory stores outside of MI?

[MontrealMum]

You know, I've been thinking about this a bit more. It's hard for me to remember winter in the Midwest because it's been about 13 years or so for me. But I think your best bet might actually be to take a look at the women's dress boot section in the LLB catalog. I think Sorel is hugely overkill for Chicago, La Canadienne is nice, but expensive. If you ordered boots from LLB and didn't like them you can always return them - they have great customer service and a wonderful return policy.

I know the weather has gotten highly unpredictable down there lately - my mom loves to report in about it - she's had an inordinate amount of snow days in the past year or two. But generally winter in the midwest is slushy, flurries here and there, but very rarely does snow stay on the ground for long. You get a few big storms but it doesn't generally pile up; or it melts fairly quickly (we have so much snow they cart it away in trucks several times a week). And it's almost always warm enough for the salt to be effective (it isn't up here, we use sand and gravel because salt doesn't work below a certain temp). I think your main issue is slop, and colder temps, but not arctic. I'd go for something that is lined (but not too much) and waterproof. And high enough to tuck your pants into to save them from salt stains and muck.

[skohng]

hmm.. points well taken. you're both right about chicago being more slushy than snowy, and the city is great about cleanup so being knee-deep in snow is rare.